57 



Be sure the incubator sets firm on the floor and is perfectly level. 



Keep the lamp clean and put a fresh wick for each hatch. Be 

 sure to trim the wick once each day. Never attend to the lamp and 

 then handle the eggs. 



Test the eggs on the tenth day and then again on the seventeenth 

 day and remove all infertile eggs. 



Don't buy an incubator simply because it is cheap in price. 



When the chicks begin to pip the eggs break the shell do not 

 turn the eggs again. Now close the incubator and let it remain 

 closed until the hatch is over. Do not allow the temperature to go 

 above 105 at this time. When the chicks are about all hatched, open 

 all ventilators so they can get plenty of air. The egg trays can now 

 be removed and a little opening left in the door to allow sufficient 

 ventilation. Do not do this, however, until the chicks are dry. After 

 they have remained in the incubator for twenty-four or thirty-six 

 hours and hardened off in this manner, they can then be transferred 

 to the brooder or placed under a mother hen. 



What is a good hatch ? If you hatch fifty per cent of the eggs you 

 place in an incubator and then raise fifty per cent of the chicks 

 hatched, you are doing about as well as the average person. The 

 same is true with hens. 



Many people abuse their incubators and are unfair in the use of 

 them through ignorance or carelessness. An incubator is like any 

 other piece of machinery; you must use common sense in operating 

 it and give it a reasonable amount of care and attention. 



Mammoth incubators, holding from 2,000 to 60,000 eggs, have 

 come into use and are giving very satisfactory results. They are a 

 necessity upon the large poultry farm, where thousands of chicks are 

 hatched each year. 



THE SECRET OF PEDIGREEING CHICKS WITHOUT 

 SPECIAL TRAYS. 



Here is a little secret that may be worth a great deal to you. If 

 you order a setting of good eggs or have a setting of eggs from some 

 valuable or special hen which you want to mark so they may be dis- 

 tinguished from other chicks, and you want to put these eggs in an in- 

 cubator with other eggs, you can distinguish the chicks in this way : 

 Mark each of the special setting of eggs so you will know those from 



